Asylum (Touched by the Fae 1)

I’m just a broken human. How would someone like me go up against an all-powerful faerie queen in the first place?

“So what? I’m supposed to be this Shadow person because I can walk through shadows? You can do it, too. You said it was a Dark Fae gift.”

“It is. The Shadow has human blood, though. It can’t be a fae.”

Oh. Wonderful. “Is it true?” I demand. “Am I the Shadow?”

“She believes you are,” Nine mutters. “That’s all that matters. She’ll end your life before you get the chance to end hers. When you were a child, she wasn’t so concerned. But now that you’re coming of age…”

Coming of age. How much do I want to bet that, to the fae, that means twenty-one?

You’ve got to be kidding me. All of Nine’s mentions of a villainous she start to pop up in my memories. After the golden fae—after Rys—asked me to dance that first time and he killed Madelaine when I refused to leave the Everetts with him, I forgot all about the she who was after me. I had a real monster, a male monster, that I spent years obsessing over.

I never knew that it was the Fae Queen who was really after me.

Gulping, I ask him, “And there’s nothing I can do about it?”

“Not right now.”

That’s not a no. I know better than to push him, though. When I was a kid, Nine hated it when I asked him questions. He’d rather I sit and listen because, eventually, he would tell me everything he thought I needed to know. To have him answering my questions, treating me like an equal… I shouldn’t be so impressed, but I am. So the bar hasn’t been set all that high for me. I get it. He made me a promise because he wanted something I didn’t want to give him. Now that I’m out of the asylum, he could decide that that bargain has been met.

I have to get more answers out of him before he shuts the conversation down. He’ll do it. I’ve seen him.

Besides, there’s nothing I can do about the queen right now. So she thinks she has to kill me because I want to kill

her? I’ll leave her alone if she doesn’t bother me. That seems fair.

So what if I “come of age” in two weeks? As far as I’m concerned, being twenty-one means two things: I’m out of Black Pine and I can finally buy booze legally.

Committing regicide? Yeah. I’m good.

At least now I know why my mom would’ve turned to another fae to protect me. I still don’t know how she is involved—how she knew Nine, or that the fae were real to begin with—but it makes sense. Nine is a cold bastard. If there was anyone I’d choose to be a protector, it would be him.

“You knew my mom.”

Nine’s expression goes blank. It wasn’t a question, but he treats it like one. “We’ve met.”

“That’s what he said. I didn’t want to believe him.”

“Who? Rys?”

I can’t bring myself to say his name. “Yeah. The Light Fae. He said she commanded you to watch over me. How? She’s a human.”

His eyes dim. “Do you believe him?”

That’s not an answer. Is my Dark Fae trying to be tricky?

“Hey, if you can interpret that any other way, be my damn guest. But I think that he was being pretty clear with what he said. No double meanings that I can figure out.”

Nine turns away from me. His strong profile beneath the moonlight has me wondering why I’m trying to pick a fight with him. He sighs and, for a moment, when the cloud cover passes right over the moon, I think he’s fading back into the shadows.

Then the clouds roll swiftly by and Nine is still there, avoiding my earnest gaze.

“Fine,” he admits. “When you were very young, I struck a bargain with a human woman to repay an old debt of mine. Your mother. I gave her my word that I would watch over you if anything ever happened to her. I have only done what I promised to do.”

It’s a good thing I’m sitting on the ground. I feel like I’ve been sucker-punched. A sense of betrayal weighs my gut down like rocks. I’m suddenly aware that I never pushed for the reasons why he constantly visited me when I was little. I took it for granted that he wanted to—not that he was forced to.

Or that, all along, he only acted on orders from a mother who wanted to keep me protected.